Our Hearts' Desire

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Almost since the start of Christianity, there has been a “prosperity gospel.”  This is the idea that God will give us material blessings and make everything go smoothly for us if we have enough faith.  I heard it expressed this way once: “If a drug dealer is driving a nice car, God’s children should be driving even nicer cars.”  This view is supported by Bible passages like Psalm 37:4: “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

But God would be doing us a disservice if he aimed at meeting our material desires.  A nice car and a big house and a successful career would be monopoly money if he didn’t give us the real currency of peace, wisdom, love, and a place in his family.  We get mesmerized with the rings on God’s finger when God is offering us himself - hands and heart.  There is no guarantee that we will get the lesser things we long for.  But when we desire God, that is a desire God never fails to fulfill.